The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that dumped industrial oil has tarnished Mosta valley. The police are investigating and a clean-up has started. The newspaper also carries an interview with Malta Eurovision winner Kurt Calleja.
The Malta Independent leads with comments made yesterday by the two political leaders.
In-Nazzjon says Joseph Muscat is making wrong choices. The story refers to his defence of old labour governments and the no confidence motion.
l-orizzont says a patient eligible for overseas hospital treatment was subjected to a means test going back 40 years.
The overseas press
Kathimerini quotes Greek Prime Minister Papademos saying he expected the leaders of Greece's three ruling parties to reach a decision today whether to accept the conditions of a fresh bailout from the EU after negotiations yesterday did not yield any agreement. Lenders from the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund have demanded spending cuts in Greece as prerequisites for a €130 billion bailout that would save Greece from defaulting on its debt. The deal would also see part of Greece's debt erased by private lenders.
Euronews reports freezing weather in Europe is still causing chaos across the continent, with roads closed, flights cancelled, and gas supplies choked off. More than 300 people are now reported to have died in the cold snap, which has seen temperatures dip as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. Europe's homeless people have borne the brunt of the deaths, with dozens of transients freezing to death in unheated apartments, fire escapes or in makeshift street shelters in countries including Italy, France, Poland and Ukraine.
Il Tempo says eight people died in Italy, in addition to the nine that died on Saturday. As he blessed a small gathering of pilgrims huddled in St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict said he hoped spring would come soon. Meteorologists forecast heavy snow across parts of Spain and the Pyrenees. Low pressure in the Mediterranean will cause high winds and torrential rain this week. The bitter cold front even crossed the Mediterranean into North Africa, where as many as 16 people were killed on Algeria's snow-slicked roads or in other weather-related accidents.
The United States says friends of a democratic Syria must rally against President Bashar al-Assad. Dnevnik reports that iIn strongly-worded remarks during a visit to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said the UN Security Council had been neutered by Russia and China on Saturday when double vetoed an Arab League-backed resolution critical of Syria. At least 56 people were killed in violence across Syria on Sunday, half of them civilians.
The Egyptian Gazette says more than 40 people working for pro-democracy and human rights groups in Egypt are to be put on trial. They are accused of operating illegally and of seeking foreign funds to stir up unrest. They include 19 Americans, five Serbs, two Germans and three non-Egyptian Arab nationals.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, victory in Finland’s presidential election has gone to a conservative former finance minister Sauli Niinistoe. He secured 63 per cent of the vote in Sunday's run-off poll, easily beating his Green rival Pekka Haavisto, an openly-gay environmentalist who garnered only 37 per cent.
O Globo says Brazilian security forces have taken control of the state of Bahia after local police went on strike demanding higher pay. Officials in the north-eastern state said 81 murders were reported over the past five days, double the number for the same period last year. Assaults and store lootings also increased. The strike and the spike in violence came just two weeks before millions of tourists were expected to arrive for the Carnival.
ABC reports Amnesty International has begun a 12-day fact finding mission of Australia's detention facilities with a visit to asylum seekers in the remote Kimberley. Four representatives spent the weekend at the Curtin Detention Centre, which houses more than 1,000 men who protested that their claims take too long to process.
The Guardian points out that Queen Elizabeth becomes Britain's second longest serving monarch today when she marks 60 years on the throne. In 1952, then Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya on her way to tour Australia when she learned her father King George VI was dead and she was now Queen. The official celebrations will be held in June.
A book by a former mistress of President John F Kennedy has revealed new details of their relationship. Excerpts published in the New York Post of “Once Upon A Secret” by Mimi Alford recount the affair she had with the president whilst an intern at the White House. The affair went on to last 18 months. She also relates Mr Kennedy's thoughts on the Cuban missile crisis and the death of his baby son. The relationship apparently continued even after Ms Alford left Washington, and she claims to have slept with Mr Kennedy just days before he was assassinated. Alford decision to write the memoir came after being exposed in "a tabloid frenzy" in 2003.